


you can't see the ropes

by frozennightmare



Series: 50th Fixits [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 50th anniversary, Angst, F/M, Spoilers for Episode: The Day of the Doctor, can be read as eleven/rose or whouffle take your pick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 14:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1057748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozennightmare/pseuds/frozennightmare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He tells Clara nearly everything, every person he's ever met. Except for one. Except for Rose Tyler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you can't see the ropes

**Author's Note:**

> because i'm too lazy to write it we are taking a minor time jump over the paintings- let's just say liz is an awesome motherfucker who wants nothing to do with ten cause she thinks he's after her crown(i'll write that bit after nano or something)  
> set directly after 'checking that the coast is clear'

 

"Been a long time since I've been in here." Rose breathes, fingers stroking the corals as the TARDIS hums back. "Well, I haven't ever really been in here before, if you think about it."

"Why is it so dark in here?" The Warrior complains. "So cluttered?"

"Ah, it's his grunge phase, he'll grow out of it." Eleven sighs. 

"Hey! I happen to like the coral!" 

"Coral?" Clara asks skeptically. "Is that what you call it?" 

Then the TARDIS shifts around them, the console cleaning up, the walls white-washed and patterned with circles. "What's happening?" Clara questions.

"Too many of us in the TARDIS at once, she's trying to compensate." The Warrior announces. 

"Oh, it's the circle things! I remember the circle things!" 

"What did the circle things even do?" Eleven is still messing with the TARDIS controls, trying to stabilize the desktop.

"No idea."

The TARDIS shifts again, this time to an interior that's completely foreign to all three Doctors. The paneling is dark and wooden, carved with something in Gallifreyan in shimmering spirals, the center console covered in gold dials. The upper half of the center column is decorated with a softly rotating piece that echoes Eleven's white ones, light dancing off the gold and the elaborate roses carved into it. The interior of the center column is like a bottle of bubbles, dancing up and down with gold light and humming happily when Rose touches it.

"Whose TARDIS is this?" Ten asks, baffled. Rose just smiles and waves at him. "Oh! It's yours?"

"What, did you think I wouldn't have my own TARDIS? Can't miss out on the fun."

"Fixed it!" announces Eleven, and the console room becomes blue again. 

"Oh, you've redecorated. I don't like it." Ten can't resist the jab, it's only fair. Eleven adopts an overly shocked face and pets the console. "Don't listen to him, dear."

Rose stares up at the white dials around the center column. "You've gotten sentimental, Doctor."

He pretends not to hear her, but Clara does. "What do they say? I've always wondered that."

"It's the names of all his former companions. And a couple after me, apparently."

"Aww, that's sweet."

"Moving on!" shouts Eleven, and shoves the TARDIS into orbit with a violent crash. "Hey, wait for me!" Rose dives in to a spot at the console. "She'll fly a lot better with all four pilots!"

"Where are we going?" Clara asks. 

"Back to the museum, we need to do something about those Zygons."

"I don't think that's where they are. That vortex manipulator, I got it from the Black Archive, there was a Zygon impersonating Kate-" She stops as the three Doctor freeze. 

"The Black Archive." repeats Ten. 

"You've heard of it?"

"Yep! Rerouting course!" He stares at the TARDIS for a moment. "She's not letting us land, why can't we land?"

"The Black Archive is TARDIS-proof!" Clara yells. She can hardly get a word in, they talk so fast. 

"Oh, that's just great."

"Hang on- wait- we don't need to land!" Eleven smacks himself in the forehead like he's just realized something exceedingly important.

"Yeah, we kind of do." deadpans Ten.

"No we don't!" He grabs the stasis cube off the console and tosses it at Ten, who lets out a long  _oooooh_ and throws it to the Warrior."Hang on, I've got to make a call!" Eleven leans out of the TARDIS to get to the phone. Why does he even have it out there anymore? It used to be inside, that had been much smarter. 

"Rose, land her! Somewhere inconspicuous." Ten gives Rose a conniving wink, which she takes to mean  _as conspicuous as possible._

 _"_ But inside the National Gallery before Clara and I get there, don't forget that part." There they are again, finishing each other's sentences.

"What time did you get there?" Rose leans over to ask Clara.

"Half past noon."

The TARDIS lands with a little bit of a groan,and Eleven falls out quite comically, phone still in hand. Ten smirks and steps over him, the Warrior tossing the stasis cube up and down like it's a cricket ball.

"Ready?" he asks, sticking it on the nearest plinth and placing his hand over it.

Being frozen into a painting is not quite the same as being frozen in ice.

For one, ice isn't  _soft._

It's like being facepainted, the feeling of brushstrokes and wet paint, except it covers every cell of you body, tints the world with an oil brush. 

Not surprisingly, it's not the weirdest thing Rose has ever done. Probably doesn't even make the top ten. 

An oil Dalek looms menacingly the instant the process is complete, shouting their doom with a muddled voice. The three Doctors move in unison, sonics flashing and driving it back towards the shimmering pane of glass in the distance. Rose isn't done with the surprises, it seems, pulling one of her own out of her jacket and adding to the buzz. Like her TARDIS, it curls in twists of metal and wood, glowing white instead of blue. Ten almost bounces at this, but waits until the Dalek has actually broken through the glass to really and truly get excited, grabbing Rose's hand as she steps out of the painting. 

"You didn't."

"What, did you think I wasn't gonna take a page out of your book?"

"Can I see it? Oh, that is good, Rose Tyler, that is good." His face lights up again, and Clara groans. "Again with the flirting. Was past you always like this?"

Eleven is a bit more occupied with the Zygon issue. There's the minor problem of self-destructs, memory wipes and the peace treaty. Just another day in the life of the Doctors.

Ten and Rose wander off into the archive as the two Kate Stewarts discuss their fate, a lazy arm wrapped around Rose's waist as he picks things off the shelves, making comments about how they shouldn't really have this stuff. Clara can't hear a word they're saying, only can see the smile on Rose's face as she laughs at something, the distant look in Ten's eyes that tells her he hardly remembers there's anyone else down here.

In terms of her Doctor, well, he's kind of dead.

Eleven has collapsed onto a chair, staring off into space as Clara pulls over another with a rattle across the stone floor. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" 

"About Rose. I've seen the way you look at her, I mean- the other you. It's obvious she means a lot to you, but you never once mentioned her. Why?"

"Don't want to talk about it."

"Too bad." Clara snaps. "You tell me all these things, all these stories, more than a lot of people probably know about you. Why not Rose?"

"Because I don't want to think about it, Clara, I never want to think about it. She is  _always_ there, invading my thoughts when I least expect it,and if I entertain that for even a second-" He cuts off. "I gave her up. I did what I should have done, it's what she deserved. The real Rose is gone, she's safe, and as long as I don't think about it that's how she stays."

"So what, you just left her behind, and now you pretend she doesn't exist so you don't go back for her? Do you not have a single  _scrap_  of decency?"

"She was like you." he starts. "She was human, perfectly ordinary, she wanted to stay with me- well, forever. But she got locked away, in a parallel universe, I couldn't get to her."

"And you call that safe."

"She's not alone, she's got someone with her, he's- he's a human version of me, the old me-"

"Ok, fine. As happy endings go, that's not too bad. But you just  _forgot!_ Is that what's gonna happen to me, I die somewhere and you never mention me again? And don't give me the 'I moved on' speech, because I see you over here with your big sad eyes, continuing to pretend that she doesn't exist."

"Not to you, Clara, never to you. I could never forget you."

"Is that what you told her?"

He opens his mouth and stays that way before looking away, unable to meet her gaze. "You did." says Clara. "Oh my God you really did. She found out about someone else you'd never talked about, and you promised you wouldn't forget."

"Is something the matter?" Rose walks up, eyes flicking between Eleven and Clara and back again. Clara can't help but notice Ten standing at a safe distance, trying to stay out of the argument.

"No." hisses Eleven, but Clara turns on the spot to face Rose. "I'm berating him for forgetting about you."

She smiles a tiny bit, nowhere near that massive grin from earlier, and turns away. "Oh."

"Rose." Eleven chokes. "I-I-"

"Why would you do it again?"

He can't even look at her, turning his head away. "I let you down, I let...everyone down. They all die, in the end."

"The names on the TARDIS, the new ones. Amy. Rory. River."

"Who?" Clara perks her head up.

"Dead. All three of them. It's my fault."

"That's what you do now, huh? Only talk about the ones you've managed to emotionally remove yourself from. Guess I should feel honored."

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are. Just wish you'd learn from your own mistakes." 

"I wish you'd stop coming back."

"Really?"

"No. Don't ever stop coming back, I like it when you're around."

"And the truth comes out!" Clara announces. 

"Does he ever stop doing this?" Rose asks her.

She shakes her head. "Never. He's like a big grumpy fish."

"Oi! I am not a...fish! Or grumpy!"

"Definitely grumpy." Clara decides.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Just a little."

"That's a very big 'little', isn't it."

"Yes it is."

Someone taps on Rose's shoulder, the Warrior standing behind her with his grim face and young eyes. 

"I've seen enough." he says. "I'm ready."

 


End file.
